In the wake of the Pulse massacre on June 12, 2016, in Orlando, Florida, 'We Are Family' examines the pervasiveness of violence and the healing process a community goes through after a mass shooting. It aims to create an understanding of a community overwhelmed by grief, address the idea of what Americans have accepted as normal in our culture and elevate consciousness about the damaging legacy we are leaving future generations.

“Two weeks after the Pulse Nightclub shooting, I attended a wedding of two friends, JT and Jenica, in northern Florida. We met at Pulse Nightclub ten years earlier. In the moment JT walked down the aisle towards the woman she adored, something inside of me woke up: I knew I needed to tell the story of Pulse through my experience with the community.” – Cassi Alexandra

WE ARE FAMILY is a portrait of the recovery process a community goes through after a mass shooting in United States; a composite of over 25 long-form interviews and intimate portraits of a selection of lives affected by the Pulse Nightclub massacre. They are survivors; members of victim’s families, local religious leaders, Orlando based civic and political figures, as well as individuals I attended Pulse with 9 years prior.

WE ARE FAMILY is the project that poured out of that moment. For Alexandra, a Queer independent documentary photographer whose worked with companies such as The New York Times, NPR, and The Washington Post and is a native Floridian who attended Pulse Nightclub herself many times during her college years.

When Alexandra began this project she first spoke with Rae and Nay, a local newly engaged couple. Nay told her a story about an interaction she had at work where a customer asked: “Are you, family?” After responding yes, he embraced her. Nay had to explain to her coworker, “in the gay community, 'family' is used to connect with each other, to let each other know "hey we’re the same and we’re in this together. We’ve been through similar things.”